- [countable] a bird like a large duck with a long neck. Geese either live wild or are kept on farms. see also barnacle goose, Canada gooseTopics Birdsb2Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
- wild
- roast
- flock
- gaggle
- waddle
- hiss
- honk
- …
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
- [uncountable] meat from a goose
- roast goose
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- wild
- roast
- flock
- gaggle
- waddle
- hiss
- honk
- …
- [countable] a female goose compare gander
- [countable] (old-fashioned, informal) a silly person see also golden goose, wild goose chase
Word OriginOld English gōs, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch gans and German Gans, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin anser and Greek khēn.
Idioms
See goose in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionarycook somebody’s goose
- (informal) to destroy somebody’s chances of successTopics Difficulty and failurec2
kill the goose that lays the golden egg/eggs
- (saying) to destroy something that would make you rich, successful, etc.Topics Difficulty and failurec2
not say boo to a goose (British English)
(North American English not say boo to anyone)
- to be very shy or gentle
- He's so nervous he wouldn't say boo to a goose.
what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander
- (old-fashioned, saying) what one person is allowed to do, another person must be allowed to do in a similar situationTopics Permission and obligationc2
Check pronunciation:
goose